i will mount this laser on a platform that will be able to move forward, backwards, left and right. it will operated by hand because i don't have any experience making it move from pics on the computer. it's should be able to cut through Styrofoam and signboard (the two main materials that i use in my robot chasi. i will start construction on February, 15, 2008. (i have term projects to get done).

just thought i would post this

thanks,cooldog

P.S. sorry admin if this is one of the useless posts that you have been taking about

I think that's too dangerous. If you do it WEAR laser eye protection. One sec of that and you could become blind. Second of all if you're going to move it, your hands will get in the way. Wouldn't want that to happen would you? You can cut styrofoam with a knife (i think). And won't styrofoam melt from the laser?

Why no get a suitable drill and make a milling machine type of thing, then you can cut more stuff reliably. Also if you can control it with a pic thats connect through uart to a pc. Or just make a control pad directly on the pic

I must agree with Cooldog about it would be a totally awesome project! And laser does make some nice edges vs machine. However, I don't know how attainable this project is and realistic as far as functionality. I know of a few machine shops that have very powerful laser to cut and weld (works nicely for aluminum because of temp i guess). If you want something safe and attainable, I'd go this trying to make a CNC .

yea make sure you get safety glasses if your working on it or testing it. make sure no one comes into the room while your testing it...they can burn skin cant they? also the blinding thing tho. this project does seem a bit imagitive tho. if you want to build a robot/rc car that bad you should save up some of your money until you can afford the proper materials, because cheap things normally fall apart easilly, if i was you i would buy a decent chaisi even if it did cost me a few extra bucks.

I think the iportant part of your project is getting the 3 axis movements going to either move the cutting head or ove the material being cut. Once this is done you can ake the cutting head interchangeable, so you could have a laser, mill drill etc... and have a full multi function machine.

I bought a dremel type tool today, and some metal drawer slides to work as the rails (I think these should be fine). Ive already got the stepper motors, now I just need some long screw bolts but i couldnt find any.

One thing that concerns me is what software do you use to control them? would it be best to create my own. The actual stepper control will be done through a PIC and some kind of home built stepper driver. My computer can communicate with the pic, I just need to know the best way to transform a cad image into something that i can send to the pic for moving the tool head.

My plans are to make a simple frame, and make the circuits etc.. on hobby boards. Then use the finished result to make a proper board for it (so it creates itself a better pcb) and also cut itself better hardware parts so once its built its probably gonna be scratched up and kinda ghetto style, but over time its gonna upgrade its own parts

One thing that concerns me is what software do you use to control them? would it be best to create my own.

I use $4k software so I can't really recommend that There is a lot of hobby software out there if you look. You will have to do the low level commands, and have your controller accept G code (google it up).

You can also just use C to generate tool paths with equations, but its kind of painful and awkward to do by hand.

I bought a dremel type tool today, and some metal drawer slides to work as the rails (I think these should be fine). Ive already got the stepper motors, now I just need some long screw bolts but i couldnt find any.

One thing that concerns me is what software do you use to control them? would it be best to create my own. The actual stepper control will be done through a PIC and some kind of home built stepper driver. My computer can communicate with the pic, I just need to know the best way to transform a cad image into something that i can send to the pic for moving the tool head.

My plans are to make a simple frame, and make the circuits etc.. on hobby boards. Then use the finished result to make a proper board for it (so it creates itself a better pcb) and also cut itself better hardware parts so once its built its probably gonna be scratched up and kinda ghetto style, but over time its gonna upgrade its own parts